“I know, but I’ve had enough time to think about this and I really am ready to marry him.” Dasia stood and made her way into the master bath. She read the test results and then tossed the test into the trash. She made her way back into the sitting room and sat in the chair next to Katina.
“Well?”
Dasia smiled at her. “Somebody’s going to be an auntie.”
Katina nearly knocked over the table in her haste to hug Dasia. “Congratulations! You’re going to love motherhood. So when are you going to tell G?”
“He should be back tomorrow, but I think I’ll wait until this weekend. I’ll make an appointment with my doctor just to confirm the results before I break the big news to him.”
Katina turned serious on Dasia. “Are you okay with this? I mean, you do want this baby, don’t you?”
Dasia seemed more scared than excited. Finding out you’re pregnant can be a shock, but Katina wanted to make sure Dasia didn’t have second thoughts.
“Of course, I’m okay with this. This child was conceived in love. I wouldn’t give this child up for the world.”
“G is going to be so excited.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so, and if you accept his marriage proposal, you’re going to make him the happiest man alive. So I guess I should welcome you and the little one to the family.” Katina offered Dasia a warm smile. She was already like family, and with the marriage and baby on the way, she knew her brother had finally found the happiness he so deserved.
“Thanks, Katina. I guess, now that I know for sure, I’ll try to get some sleep. Are you going to stay?”
“Yeah. I’ll be here if you need anything. Besides, the kids are asleep. I don’t want to wake them again.”
“Thanks again for coming over here in the middle of the night.”
“Learning I’m going to be an auntie has made it all worthwhile. Now try to get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.” Katina made her way down the hall to look in on her kids before returning to one of the guest bedrooms.
Dasia picked up the photo of her and G they kept on the nightstand. They’d taken it overlooking Lover’s Leap. “We’re going to be one big happy family,” she said to herself before replacing the photo and sliding beneath the covers. It didn’t take long for her to drift quietly to sleep.
Chapter 27
“Wake up, babe.” Dasia opened her eyes to G hovering above her. She didn’t expect him back until the afternoon. She glanced over his shoulder, out of the window, to see a well-lit sky. “What time is it?”
“Three in the afternoon. Katina told me you had a long night.”
“Oh, really?” She leaned up and stretched then wrapped her arms around her midsection. “What else did that sister of yours tell you?”
G looked at Dasia curiously. “Nothing. Just that you weren’t feeling well.”
Dasia swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. “Yeah? Well, my stomach has been acting up lately.”
“So I’ve heard. Have you gone to see the doctor?” They’d discussed her health on a number of occasions, and G wanted to make sure that Dasia was taking care of herself.
“Not yet. If it doesn’t get better in a couple of days, I’ll call.”
“R.I.P.’s wife used to be a doctor. You want me to give her a call?” The longer G looked at Dasia, the more he didn’t like this. She didn’t look well.
“No.” Dasia lowered her head. She thought about telling him that she was pregnant, but she wanted to see the doctor first. “I’m just stressed. I need a road trip.”
“That can be arranged. Where does my little angel want to go?”
“Someplace not too far away.”
“Get dressed and pack an overnight bag. We’ll leave whenever you’re ready.” G stood and made his way to the door. He took one last look at Dasia and gave her some space to get ready.
“Is she awake?” Katina asked.
G turned around quickly, startled that his sister was behind him. “Yeah. We’re going to take a little road trip. Is
R.I.P. still downstairs?”
“Yep. In his usual spot by the front door. Where are you taking her?” Katina wasn’t sure G should be taking Dasia on a road trip. By his reaction, she knew Dasia hadn’t yet told him she was pregnant. Katina thought about G catching on to Dasia’s morning sickness.
“Gambling. I think the slots will relax her. We’ll probably go to Tunica. I need to talk to R.I.P. Make sure Dasia has everything she needs. Oh, and don’t tell her where we’re going. I want it to be a surprise.”
Katina watched as her brother made his way down the stairs. She knocked lightly on the bedroom door and then stepped inside.
Dasia greeted Katina, “Good morning, or maybe I should say afternoon.”
“Hey, girl. So G tells me you two are taking a little road trip.”
“Yeah.” Dasia busied herself rambling through the closet. She’d just about moved all of her things into the walk-in adjacent to the master bathroom. She was glad G didn’t have much in there, allowing her plenty of room to arrange her massive wardrobe.
“So you haven’t told him yet?”
“No, I want to wait until I go to the doctor.” She pulled a pair of cream linen pants from a hanger and a royal blue sweater from the shelf next to it. She folded each item before placing it into her bag.
“You sure that’s the only reason?”
“Yes.” Dasia stopped to look up at Katina.
“Then you might need these.” Katina handed Dasia a bottle of pills. “They’re herbs. They should help with the morning sickness. They were a lifesaver for me.”
“Thanks.” Dasia went back to packing her necessities. “So did G happen to mention where we’re going?”
“He sure did. Of course, you know I am not at liberty to discuss that.”
“Come on, you can tell me.” Dasia already knew Katina wasn’t going to budge.
“My lips are sealed. Now finish packing.” Katina left Dasia to ponder where G was taking her. They’d have a good time. G would make sure of it, and she assumed they needed to do as much of that as possible because as soon as the baby was here both of their lives would change.
Dasia leaned back into the seat of G’s Range Rover as they crossed the Mississippi state line. He’d been driving in dark, dreary weather for nearly six hours. She wondered how much longer they were going to be on the road.
“How you doing over there?” he asked, changing lanes to pass a slower-moving vehicle.
“A little hungry, otherwise I’m good. How much further?”
Dasia was more than a little hungry, she was famished. She hadn’t eaten yet, and now that her body was adjusting to being pregnant, she was hungrier than usual. Actually, she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to keep anything down.
“About another half an hour or so. Did you eat before we left?”
Dasia lowered her chin. “No.”
“Dasia, we’ve been through this. You can’t starve yourself.” G opened the middle console and pulled out a bag of pecans. “Here, eat these. We’re almost there.”
Dasia opened the package and tossed a handful of the nuts into her mouth. Then she waited a couple of minutes to determine if her body was going to reject the nourishment before she ate another handful.
After driving in silence for another twenty minutes or so, she asked, “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
“Do you want to know that bad?”
“I don’t know. Do I?”
“Look out of the window.” G pointed to her side a little out in front of them.
Dasia followed the line of his arm. The flashing lights of the casino caught her eye. She watched as they passed Bally’s and made a turn at the sign, Casino Row. “You’re taking me to the casino?”
“Is that a problem?”
“No. I just never thought of you as the gambling type.”
“And why not? Real estate is a risky business.” G watched
her grab the door handle as he cut a little too close to another vehicle.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
G laughed at Dasia. “I know. I’ve had a stint or two in Vegas, and Katina and I used to run back and forth to Biloxi when we both were still in New Orleans. I haven’t been up here in years though.”
G stopped at valet parking and waited for the attendant to come get the keys. The valet helped Dasia from the vehicle then went to the driver’s side to get the keys from G.
As they walked hand in hand into the casino, Dasia was almost overwhelmed with all of the flashing lights and bells ringing.
“Do you want to eat first or play a little?”
“I think I want to play a little while. I’m not very hungry, now that I’ve eaten those nuts.”
G peeled fifteen hundred-dollar bills from the wad in his pocket and handed them to Dasia. “Go have some fun. If you run out of money, I’ll be over at the tables.”
Dasia turned, eyes wide open, trying to determine in which direction to go. “But I don’t know where to start.”
“Just walk around for a while. See if any of the machines catch your eye. Just remember to have fun. Don’t worry about winning or losing, just enjoy playing.”
“If you say so.” Dasia turned to her right and began walking toward a row of machines in the corner.
G watched as she finally stopped at a machine and slid one of the bills into it. He watched her play a few rounds before walking in the opposite direction to one of the blackjack tables.
Rafael, head of casino security, looked closely at the picture on the monitor from one of the security cameras located at the front of the casino. He froze the frame. “Paul, come here for a second,” he said to his assistant.
Paul walked over to his boss’s desk and leaned to get a closer look at the picture on the monitor. “Is that who I think it is?”
“The one and only. Let him play a few hands and then send someone for him. And have someone keep an eye on the young lady he came in with. He handed her a large sum of money, and we wouldn’t want anything happening to her or it.”
“Yes, sir.” Paul picked up the phone and made a call to let his men know what needed to be done.
“Paul.”
“Yeah.”
“Make sure you relieve his dealer. You know how he spooks people.”
“Got it.”
G sat down at one of the blackjack tables, lit a cigar, and started to play. The dealer was young and inexperienced, and G read him like a book. He’d played about ten hands and won each and every one of them. Just as he was about to begin a new hand, a man in a dark suit tapped him on the shoulder.
“Yes.” G turned to look at one of the hotel security guards.
“Someone in the office would like to speak with you.”
G picked up his money and followed the security guard to one of the back offices. He tried to locate Dasia along the way, but she was nowhere in sight. He just hoped she wouldn’t come looking for him while he was tending to business.
The security guard opened the door for G to go inside, and a familiar voice greeted him as the door behind him closed.
“So what do we owe the honor of this visit from the Grim Reaper?”
“My lady just needed a break. I was wondering when you were going to come for me. Took you longer than I expected.”
“Well, there was other business I needed to tend to. By the way, nice bluff out there.” Rafael continued to scan the wall of images, taking note of the one with G’s female friend.
“You watching my cards now?”
“Among other things. Come here for a second. There’s something you need to see.”
G walked around the desk until he was face to face with his old friend. “I see sitting behind this desk all day hasn’t made you soft.”
“Look who’s talking. I figured after you left the Agency you’d turn into a powder puff.” Rafael still hadn’t taken his eyes off the wall of monitors behind his desk. He hadn’t even turned around when G came into the office.
“You know that’s never going to happen. So what is it you wanted me to see?” G crossed his arms as he too scanned the black-and-white collage.
“Look.” Rafael pointed to the monitor slightly to their left.
They stared at a picture of Dasia sitting in front of one of the slot machines, feeding money into the bottomless pit.
“So you watching my lady too? What’s up with that?”
Rafael cut his eyes at G. “Now look over here.” He pointed to the monitor next to the one they’d been looking at.
This monitor was a wider shot of the row Dasia was playing on. There was a gentleman dressed in all black sitting three machines down from Dasia on the row behind her. From where the man was sitting, he had a perfect view of Dasia and the machine she was playing.
“Who’s the guy?”
“The other business I’ve been tending to. He’s been following your lovely lady since you two split up. He walked in just after you two did. He hid behind one of the pillars so you wouldn’t see him, but the eye in the sky sees all.”
“Really? Any of these cameras have an even wider shot?”
Rafael scanned the other monitors. “This one is another angle.”
“There.” G pointed to a man also dressed in all black, a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes.
“Is that—”
“Yep.” G flipped out his phone and dialed R.I.P. He had the perfect view of Dasia, but his view of the rest of the row was obstructed.
“’S up, G?”
“Move down two machines to your right and tell me what you see.”
They watched the monitors as R.I.P. followed G’s instructions.
“G, you still there?”
“Yeah.”
“This guy has been following Dasia all night. He hasn’t made a move yet, but he’s packin’.”
“Hold on.” G turned to Rafael. “R.I.P. says the guy is packin’.”
Rafael signaled Paul back over to the monitors.
G asked, “You want R.I.P. to take care of him?”
“No, my men will handle him. Have R.I.P. meet us here in the office.”
G turned his attention back to the phone. “Hold your position until security escorts Dasia’s shadow away. Then meet me at the back of the casino, near the bar.”
“Got it.”
They hung up the phone and watched the drama unfold. The three security guards approached the man from every direction and kindly escorted him away from Dasia and toward the back.
G watched as R.I.P. checked the area around Dasia one last time before following the security guards to the back of the casino.
“Would you like for me to do the interrogation, or should I leave it up to you two?” Rafael asked.
“Be my guest.”
“You and R.I.P. can watch from here.” Rafael pointed to a flat-screen monitor on his desk. He flipped a button to activate the sound.
The creaking of the hinges of the office door opening drew their attention. R.I.P. entered the room and made his way over to where G and Rafael stood.
“It’s so nice to have the judge, jury, and executioner together again.”
R.I.P. laughed at Rafael’s comment. Years ago, when they were all in the Agency, the three of them were known as “the Shadow of Death.” “What do you think the head of the Agency would think about this little reunion?” Rafael asked.
R.I.P. told him, “If he knew about it, he’d be here right now trying to get us all to reconsider our resignations.”
They all looked at each other and laughed. None of them would ever consider returning to the Agency full-time. They’d all eventually seen the light and made their respective exits in the timeliest manner.
Rafael stood and made his way to the door. “He’s all yours, once we’re done.” He stepped through the door and into the holding area.
G and R.I.P. watched as Rafael and Paul questioned the man. He
stuck to the same story for over an hour. A letter, a photograph, and a large sum of money had arrived at a designated drop-off point, and he took the assignment and was only there following orders. He didn’t know who the client was, just that he was supposed to follow Dasia and, if he got the chance, take her out.
They’d watched as Rafael went over the story again and again. G and R.I.P. were growing weary of doing this the legal way. G turned to his partner. “Ready?”
“Let’s do this.”
A forceful knock on the door pulled Rafael’s attention away from his prisoner. He’d been waiting for either G or R.I.P. to come and take over. He’d done all he could the legal way. Now it was up to the other side to take over and see how many answers they could get.
“Paul, let’s go.” Rafael crossed the room, leaving the suspect sitting in a chair in the middle of the floor.
The man looked curiously at the men. He wondered who was at the door and what else was in store for him. He’d seen the cameras, so he knew his interrogation was being taped.
The two men exited the room, leaving the prisoner alone. A couple of minutes later, two other men entered. He recognized the dark-skinned man. He’d seen him a couple of rows over from Dasia in the casino.
“So what do you two want?”
G looked over at R.I.P. and then at the man seated in the middle of the room. Both R.I.P. and G looked up at the camera just to make sure the light was no longer on. They didn’t want any of what they were about to do on tape. They knew Rafael and Paul were watching from the office, and they’d definitely give their old friends a show.
Lighting a cigar, G made his way to a corner of the room and leaned back against a wall. He propped one foot up on the wall and took a drag from his stogie. “He’s all yours.”
R.I.P. circled the man, taking time to determine his course of action.
The man tilted his head down, trying his best not to look at R.I.P. He watched the size twelve shoes cross his path then disappear from his peripheral vision.
The next thing the man knew, the chair he’d been sitting in no longer had any legs. The force of his body sinking to the ground was unnerving. He didn’t know how he’d done that.
Loving Dasia Page 16
